GOOD WORDS, GOOD THOUGHTS, GOOD DEEDS
Imagine a sunny Saturday afternoon in March. Walking, or should I say running, hand in hand with my 10-year-old son off a sand dune in Scheveningen. We are on our way to save the world. Sounds like quite a responsible job, but in fact it doesn’t feel like it. We will be hunting, hunting for trash on the beach. Together with several Just-colleagues, and their friends and family. Throughout our 10-year existence of Just-Care we have done so many things, but this is our first NL Doet.
At a small shop-like building at the boulevard, we are welcomed by the nice, relaxed and down-to-earth people of Trashure Hunt. The shop is the starting point of the hunting for trash and is something between a museum and an art gallery. A Mondrian made of plastic caps. Empty bottles with flowers hanging from the ceiling make an artistic lamp. A Flip-flop wall hanger and a beer-caps-mosaic. All both surprise and amaze me. It is fun and disturbing as well: all this rubbish we people throw away!
Before we know it, we are of hunting: 18 Just-Care folks with a bag and the message to leave the turds where they are. From a distance the beach seems rather clean. But after a couple of minutes, we start to notice the plastic bags, candy wraps, plastic toys and small pieces of rope. Our Trashures keep filling the bag. My son shares his experience of the day:
We have cleaned up the beach with Just-BI for NL Doet. It was a great experience.
I went with my mom and met a man called Paul. We walked together. We had to pick up all the garbage with our hands. The sand contained a lot of small ropes – these were often deep in the sand.
Do you still remember the sun? Hardly any wind and just walking and talking while picking up the rubbish. That what I got out of this day: cleaning up is as easy as that – something to integrate in my everyday life. While walking the dog or during the weekly run in the park. Not a lot of effort and still relaxed. No need to patronize others, just lead by example. And keep the hope that someday … garbage bins are used by every one of us!
